| October 7th, 2011 Jim Roy in Ward 4: No rubber stamp Voters in Manchester’s Ward 4 have an easy choice in this year’s aldermanic election. They should reelect Alderman Jim Roy without the slightest hesitation. Roy is a retired Manchester firefighter. History has shown that retired city firefighters tend to vote in lock step with city unions. This year, though, Roy did something impressive. He voted against the union directive — and for the taxpayers. Specifically, Roy voted for a city budget that trimmed spending by including some firefighter layoffs. But before he did that, he tried to cut spending and save firefighter jobs. Roy proposed eliminating several manager positions within the department and using that money to keep more lower-level firefighters employed. The plan was voted down, but it showed that Roy was thinking critically about this very important city issue and not just taking orders from one side or the other. That, alas, is what his opponent will do. Roy is running against state Rep. Nikolas Levasseur, who got the endorsement of the city firefighters union over Roy, a former member of the union. The reason was simple: Levasseur will do what he’s told, and the union leaders know Roy will think for himself. If that’s not enough of a reason to vote for Roy this year, here are some others: Levasseur’s House voting record shows him to be one of the more liberal state representatives in New Hampshire. He’s a fan of increasing spending and taxes. He’s not a fan of Republicans, though. That’s fine, as he’s a Democrat. But he hates Republicans so much, a few years ago he joked about killing them. On his MySpace page he wrote that one of his hobbies was “the hunting of neo-conservative Reaganites (a shooting sport brought to you by the republican party in more ways than one!)” The last thing Manchester needs right now is another blindly partisan alderman who will be a rubber stamp for higher spending, higher taxes and overly generous union contracts. Ward 4 voters should stick with the much more sensible Jim Roy. - This editorial was featured in the New Hampshire Union Leader. Back To News |
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Paid for by Ted Gatsas for Mayor. B. Rivard, Fiscal Agent PO Box 6655, Manchester, NH 03108 603.623.0220
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